God’s Counsel

To all the brothers and sisters in Christ who have come to the church tormented by depression and steeped in a humanistic view of the meaning of life, I have a brief message of hope from the Lord

: “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Abundance is not complete, nor is life rich and meaningful, if it does not include a healthy mind and, consequently, behavior consistent with the Creator’s standards of conduct.

Every day, people arrive at our churches bearing unbearable emotional burdens caused by the wounds of the world, seeking help they do not know how to describe: divorce, adultery, the loss of a loved one, romantics who feel hopeless and whose love is unrequited, women who have been sexually abused, victims of domestic violence, etc. God has given us his Word so that we may understand, conclusively, the roots of most disturbances and dysfunctions of the mind. Unlike the sciences that seek to alleviate these disorders, the Bible offers the infallible remedy for eradicating them at the root, with absolute authority: the very Word of God.

Many of our periods of dejection and depression stem from sin (whether confessed or not). Acknowledging our wickedness and rebellion before God is often the beginning of a healthy and necessary form of self-therapy that allows the Holy Spirit to work powerfully and begin the process of renewing the mind: “When you are brought low, you will speak with confidence, and He will save the humble” (Job 22:29). Dejection is synonymous with dismay, faintheartedness, melancholy, and pessimism; God is refuge, comfort, and love, seeks those who worship him, and transforms “low self-esteem” into acceptance without conditions.

People with “low self-esteem” view the world and themselves pessimistically. The children of God should see themselves as people held in the highest esteem, because they believe what God says about them in his Word (heirs of the promises in Christ, blessed, citizens of heaven, forgiven, blessed, accepted, loved and reconciled, righteous and set apart for him). God esteems his children as he esteems his Son Christ, the firstborn of all creation.

“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5 NIV). The Lord wants our thoughts held captive to his Word and to obedience so that we may avoid depression and disorders of the mind.

Many of a person’s emotional disorders arise when our minds and emotions lose sight of God’s precepts. “Be anxious for nothing; rather, in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6–7). When God speaks of guarding our hearts and thoughts, he is saying that he has the power to offer us a life centered on beautiful and uplifting feelings and to bring our minds under the sway of thoughts that give rise to an inner peace founded on the love of Christ.

One of the serious problems that leads to behavioral disorders is our failure to resolve conflicts we carry through life, whether with our parents, children, friends, or relatives. Conflicts accumulate through pride, revenge, a deep desire to control others, an inflated sense of self bordering on a superiority complex, fears, uncertainties, insecurities, etc., etc. This is the caricature of the self-deifying person, or of the Christian who does not know his role in the Kingdom. These are sins of the soul that find their solution in God’s counsel. Forgiveness, humility, love of neighbor, well-directed altruism, and above all, love of God above all things are, among others, divine solutions for repairing relationships broken by the conflicts of life that we accumulate and that depress, oppress, dishearten, and defeat us.

Hence the need to study the Word daily, to commune daily in prayer, and to profess our faith by surrendering ourselves to the Lord each day, asking for his grace and protection, his counsel and guidance. Through the Bible, God can suggest more and better solutions to your problems in life in a single day than a therapist could provide in your entire lifetime. I say this from personal experience, not from the propaganda of self-help treatises.

Do you give thanks to God in all things? No one has said it is easy to give thanks when severe trials come, but doing so will bring peace to the mind and heart.

Today I lift up my prayer for the brothers and sisters in the faith who suffer from dysfunction of the mind and behavior, for those wounded in the battle of life who have placed their faith in the Lord and in his divine counsel. Do not doubt it; the best counsel will always come from God.

May God bless his Word!